Hair roller

ABSTRACT

A hair roller construction comprising an elongated mandrel having a longitudinal axis and a central hair receiving portion, and first and second spaced bands flanking the hair receiving portion, the bands including alternate strips of hook and pile fabric extending in a spiral direction relative to the longitudinal axis, and extending over onto the end portions of the mandrel.

I United States Patent [151 3,675,663

Calandra 1451 *July 11, 1972 [54] HAIR ROLLER 3,474,797 10/1969 Calandra [72] inventor: film S. (51nla;d;a,ll:l1sl0Greenfield Drive, FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS onawan a.

I03,329 2 1964 N ..l32 40 l Notice: The portion of the term of this patent suborway I sequent to Oct. 28, 1986. has been 4115- Primal. fimminfl bouisol Mancene clmmed' Assistant ExaminerJ, N. Eskovitz [22] Filed: Oct. 23, 1969 Attorney-Sommer, Weber & Gastel (21] Appl. N0.: 868,700 [57] ABSTRACT A hair roller construction comprising an elongated mandrel [if] having a longimdinal axis and a central hair receiving portion. L 39/40 and first and second spaced bands flanking the hair receiving l o m portion, the bands including alternate strips of hook and pile fabric extending in a spiral direction relative to the longitu- [56] (med dinal axis, and extending over onto the end portions of the UNITED STATES PATENTS mandrel- 3,433,233 3/l969 Thackeray 132/39 X 5 Chins, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJUL 11 m2 3.675.663

INVENTOR.

512/27 .5 f/(mdrw man ROLLER The present invention relates to an improved hair roller construction of the type which can be applied to the hair without the use of clips or pins.

In my previous U.S. Pat. No. 3,474,797 dated Oct. 28, I969 a hair roller construction was disclosed which can be applied to the hair without the use of pins or clips. This roller included a mandrel having a central hair receiving portion flanked by spaced bands, each containing a pattern of hook and pile fabric. This roller was used in conjunction with another like roller. After hair was wound on each of two adjacent rollers, the hook and pile fabrics of adjacent rollers were pressed against each other to hold the rollers in position relative to the hair without the use of clips.

However, in the above type of rollers a certain amount of preorientation was necessary in order to cause the hook fabric on one roller to mate with the pile fabric of an adjacent roller. This required a certain amount of effort on the part of the person applying the rollers to the hair. It is with overcoming the foregoing deficiency of prior rollers that the present invention is concerned.

It is accordingly the primary object of the present invention to provide an improved roller of the foregoing type which can be mounted in adhering relationship with a like adjacent roller without any need whatsoever for preorienting the hook and pile fabrics of the adjacent rollers relative to each other.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved hair roller in which alternate strips of hook and pile fabric, which are oriented spirally on the end portions of the rollers extend around the ends of the rollers to permit the rollers to be adhered in any desired relationship, that is, with their longitudinal axes at an angle to each other or parallel to each other or coaxial relative to each other, without in any way requiring any preorientation of adjacent rollers relative to each other. Other objects and attendant advantages of the present invention will readily be perceived hereafter.

The improved hair roller construction of the present invention comprises an elongated mandrel having a longitudinal axis and a central hair receiving portion, and first and second spaced bands flanking said hair receiving portion, said bands including alternate strips of hook and pile fabric extending in a spiral direction relative to said longitudinal axis.

The present invention will be more fully understood when the following portions of the specification are read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. I is a side elevational view of the improved roller of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary perspective view of one of the identical two ends of the roller shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a pair of rollers of the present invention with one roller lying in front of the other with its end band laterally offset from the end band of the other and with the end portion of the closer roller having the band broken away so as to show how the spiral strips of fabric will be oriented in a criss-cross direction relative to the nearer portion of the band of the rear roller; and

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 show adjacent adhering rollers with their axes parallel, coaxial, and transverse to each other, respectively.

The improved roller 10 includes a cylindrical mandrel ll which may be of any suitable material, such as plastic, and which may have ventilating apertures 12 therein. The mandrel need not be cylindrical but may be of any other desired configuration. The mandrel includes a central hair receiving portion 13 which is flanked by spaced bands 14. Each band 14 is fabricated from alternate strips of hook fabric 15 and pile fabric 16 which extend in a generally spiral direction relative to the longitudinal axis of mandrel 11. As can be seen from FIG. 1, the strips of both bands extend in the same direction.

The hook and pile fabric is a commercial product which is known by the trademark VELCRO. Broadly, the hook fabric contains resilient spaced hooks and the pile fabric contains closely spaced randomly oriented fuzzy pile. When the hook fabric is pressed against the pile fabric, the hooks will engage the pile and adhere thereto securely. When it is desired to separate hook fabric from the pile fabric, it is merely necessary to pull them apart and the hooks will open to permit the two materials to be separated. The nature of this material and its broad general application relative to hair rollers is described in greater detail in my previous patent, mentioned above.

The strips of hook and pile fabric may be cemented directly to the surface of mandrel 11 or they may be cemented to a backing which in turn is cemented to mandrel ll. Altematively, if desired the hook and pile fabric can be fabricated as an integral material which is then cemented to the surface of the mandrel as shown.

As can best be seen from FIG. 2, the strips 15 and 16 extend around edge 17 of the mandrel and onto the inner surface 18. This provides an edge portion at 17 which is covered with alternating strips of hook and pile fabric for attachment to an adjacent like roller when the two are essentially coaxially aligned as shown in FIG. 5, in the event it is desired to place the rollers in end-to-end relationship. Furthermore, the edge portion 17 may cause one roller to adhere to the broad surface of another when the roller axes are at an angle to each other as shown in FIG. 6. It will be appreciated that while only one end of the hair roller is shown in FIG. 2, both ends are identical.

The manner in which the rollers adhere to each other when their axes are generally parallel (FIG. 4) is shown schematically in FIG. 3. It will be understood that in order to mount the rollers on the hair a first roller is manipulated so that a first strand of hair is wound on the central portion 13 thereof. Thereafter a second roller is manipulated so that a second strand of hair is wound thereon and so that the second roller ends up in adjacent generally parallel relationship to the first roller. Thereafter, the end bands 14 of adjacent rollers are pressed up against each other, as shown in FIG. 4, to cause the rollers to adhere to each other. In this manner they will be anchored to each other at both ends and the hair which is centrally wound thereon will anchor the rollers to the head of the wearer in a very firm manner. It will be appreciated that the hook and pile fabrics do not adhere to the hair. The hook and pile fabrics of the adjacent rollers adhere only to each other.

As noted above, when rollers I0 are placed in adjacent relationship to each other, all that need be done is to make certain that any portion of band 14 can contract any portion of band 14 of an adjacent roller. Because of the spiral orientation of the strips 15 and I6, the bands 14 will automatically adhere to each other. More specifically, as can be seen from FIG. 3, roller 10 is behind roller 10. The bands 14 and 14 are laterally offset from each other solely for purposes of illustration. However, it must be visualized that bands 14 and I4 can contact each other in the manner shown in FIG. 4. As can be seen, in the portion of band I4 facing the observer, the left ends of the strips are elevated above the right ends which are at end 17. However, the strips 15 and 16 on band 14 which are on the far side of mandrel I I will necessarily have their left ends lower than the right ends at edge 17. This means when the far side of band I4 is pressed against the near side of band 14', the hook and pile strips 15 and 16 will criss-cross across hook and pile strips 15' and 16'. This being the case, firm gripping engagement of band 14 with band 14' is assured when any portion of band 14 engages any portion of band 14' with the axes of the rollers parallel, as shown in FIG. 4. The rollers need not be aligned exactly as shown, but may be laterally offset, as long as some portions of adjacent bands contact each other. There is no orientation of a pair of bands such as 14 of adjacent rollers which will not criss cross the band of another roller to insure firm locking engagement therebetween.

As can readily be appreciated, a complete hair setting will include as many as thirty rollers which are oriented relative to each other in a combination of ways shown in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6. Each roller has hair wound on the central portion 11 thereof, and need have only one end band 14 engaging one end band 14 of an adjacent roller, as shown in FIG. 6. In this orientation there are three anchor points, the hair at each of the central portions of the rollers and the rollers with each other at bands 14. There are also three anchor points in the orientation shown in FIG. 5, whereas there are four in FIG. 4.

It will be appreciated that the thickness of the wound hair will not be greater than the thickness of bands 14. However, if desired, the mandrels may have collars on their ends to raise the end bands higher above the central portion of the mandrel.

The hook fabric and the pile fabric have not been shown in extensive detail in the accompanying drawings inasmuch as this material is well-known. However, to supplement the showings of the present application, the above mentioned US. Pat. No. 3,474,797 is incorporated herein by reference as to the structure of the hook and pile fabric and all other common subject matter.

lclaim:

1. A hair roller construction comprising an elongated mandrel having a longitudinal axis and a hair receiving portion for receiving hair to be wound thereon, and first and second spaced bands flanking said hair receiving portion. said bands including alternate strips of hook and pile fabric extending in a spiral direction relative to said longitudinal axis.

2. A hair roller construction as set forth in claim I wherein said alternate strips of said first and second bands extend in generally the same direction.

3. A hair roller construction as set forth in claim 1 wherein said elongated mandrel includes end portions which extend transversely to said hair receiving portion and wherein said alternate strips of hook and pile fabric extend onto said end portions in an alternate pattern.

4. A hair roller construction as set forth in claim 3 wherein said mandrel is hollow and includes an inner surface. and wherein said alternate strips extend onto said inner surface in an alternate pattern.

5. A hair roller construction as set forth in claim 3 wherein said alternate strips of said first and second bands extend in generally the same direction.

I II i i 

1. A hair roller construction comprising an elongated mandrel having a longitudinal axis and a hair receiving portion for receiving hair to be wound thereon, and first and second spaced bands flanking said hair receiving portion, said bands including alternate strips of hook and pile fabric extending in a spiral direction relative to said longitudinal axis.
 2. A hair roller construction as set forth in claim 1 wherein said alternate strips of said first and second bands extend in generally the same direction.
 3. A hair roller construction as set forth in claim 1 wherein said elongated mandrel includes end portions which extend transversely to said hair receiving portion and wherein said alternate strips of hook and pile fabric extend onto said end portions in an alternate pattern.
 4. A hair roller construction as set forth in claim 3 wherein said mandrel is hollow and includes an inner surface, and wherein said alternate strips extend onto said inner surface in an alternate pattern.
 5. A hair roller construction as set forth in claim 3 wherein said alternate strips of said first and second bands extend in generally the same direction. 